Friday, April 29, 2016

For your Friday amusement, here are a bunch of random shots from our recent Disney World vacation.

Mickey Mouse caps on the shampoo and conditioner bottles

Nigel under a Philodendron leaf (I think)

View down the hall from our room

I'm enamored of Minnie -- we had them ship one of these plaques home to us.

Vertical garden inside the door of the Festival Center

Bed full of riotous color just outside the Festival Center -- those red flowers on the left are Amaryllis in the ground

I attended a talk on Unusual Tropical Flowers, and the giveaway was this tiny orchid and black pot -- I didn't want the hassle of bringing it home and trying to keep it alive, so I gave it away to the guy sitting beside me

I have no clue what this tropical plant is, but I love it!

Aren't the flowers cool?

Bismarck palms at EPCOT

A river of orange flowering Bromeliads

Coontie/Zamia floridana cones

Colorful terra cotta containers at the Italy pavilion at EPCOT

Agave getting ready to devour a trash can outside the Mexico pavilion

Dragon made of Bromeliads at the garden in the China pavilion

A nozzle inside the dragon's mouth spurted mist -- and is that an Agave on his head?

Water lily and Lotus in the China pavilion garden

Buddha's Belly Bamboo

Not what most people think of as pot feet -- we had them ship one of these home to us

Display in the bonsai shop -- they also sold carnivorous plants and Tillandsias

I brought that adorable little green pot home in my carry-on

Lady and the Tramp -- love her feather grass ears

Display in the topiary shop

I'm kicking myself that I didn't figure out how to get this Minnie topiary home -- I thought it might be too big to ship

Salvia, Coreopsis and Snapdragons

Berlandiera(?) and Pentas(?)

This what straw flowers look like for real -- when not glued to the top of a cactus

Thursday, April 28, 2016

A large part of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Show, which runs every year from the beginning of March through May, is the display gardens, each focused on a different theme, such as water-wise gardening, prehistoric plants, plants to attract pollinators, or gardening with edibles. Honestly, the water-wise garden was a disappointment, but they did have a pretty cool cactus and succulent garden that I'll show in a future post, called Cactus Road Rally (it featured characters from the movie Cars).

My favorite display garden was called Butterflies On The Go.

You pass these butterfly topiaries on the way to the exhibit

Looks a lot like Ajuga 'Black Scallop', interplanted with marigolds. The body might be creeping jenny, or perhaps some kind of golden Sedum like 'Ogon.'

While I probably won't be using marigolds as a companion plant to my 'Black Scallop' Ajuga, this did make me consider interplanting it with some other self-sowing annuals that I like better.

The temporary butterfly exhibit is created by draping a tent over beds full of nectar plants.

The entrance covered with a beaded curtain lets people in easily, while corralling the butterflies within.

There was a handful of these chrysalis shelters throughout the tent, where people would gather to watch butterflies emerge.

Inside the tent, the beds are planted with a colorful assortment of nectar-producing plants

There was a water feature that is probably a permanent part of the bed, during times of the year when the Flower and Garden Show isn't running

None of the plants were identified, but the beds were full of informational signs about the butterflies, as well as general info about the exhibit itself.

Perfectly posed real butterfly -- I think he saw my camera coming!

Despite the admonishment in the "Native Nectar Plants" sign above about using tropical milkweed, the red and yellow flower below looks to me like Asclepias curassavica, the tropical milkweed. Oops.

It sure is a pretty butterfly, though.

These are probably some of the best shots I've taken of butterflies. They're notoriously difficult to capture in pictures, and my own garden caters more to bees and hummingbirds than butterflies, so they don't stay in my own garden long.

About Me

My husband and I moved here to Washington state in the Fall of 2008, after more than 25 years living in the same house in Massachusetts. We lived in a rental house here for about a year, and have now bought a house, in August, 2009.
I want my blog to chronicle the process of turning our new yard into the garden of my dreams. One reason I was interested in moving to Washington was for the great gardening. A dream come true!